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By Sophie Grabiec
Elm Staff Writer

While the rest of campus enjoyed a relaxing five-week break between semesters, the winter athletes were hard at work. Both swimming and basketball had shorter breaks and longer practices than athletes in the off-season.
For the swim team, winter break began at the end of finals week, lasting just three weeks before they resumed intense practice. On Jan. 3, the swim team left for a trip to Key Largo in the Florida Keys, returning after seven days of vigorous training. Swimmer Josh Samuels explains that the trip to Florida served as preparation for the conference meet in February. He states,
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I feel like I grew so much as a swimmer… it was more than worth the pain endured.”
The swim team also had double practices with a full lift schedule when they returned to campus on Jan. 12 to the start of the spring semester.
The men’s basketball team also dedicated much of their time to practicing and improving over the five weeks off school. With just an eight-day break that stretched from Dec. 22 – Dec 30, the Shoremen stayed on campus for most of the break with a busy practice and game schedule. The Shoremen competed in nine games over break, including two in Florida in the Cruzin’ Classic tournament.
Their trip to Ft. Lauderdale seemed to be the highlight of the break to the players. Senior Tas Dixon said, “We got to play two teams from very different places, one from Massachusetts and the other from Iowa. Getting to play people from all over was pretty cool.”
Being one of the only teams on campus allowed for them to concentrate on their sport. With so few students on campus, senior Tas Dixon said, “There aren’t many distractions so it helps teams just focus on what they need to be doing. We also don’t have to focus on both school and basketball. We can just devote our time to working on our craft and getting better every day in the gym.”
Both teams seem to have taken advantage of the time off from school to dedicate themselves to their respective sports, working to progress and improve in high intensity lifting and training sessions.